While Salt Lake City has subjected itself to the lash with puritanical zeal, the I.O.C. has been slow to drop its defensive posture. Asked by Time about his group's investigation, Samaranch said, "Let's not forget that it was just a handful of individuals who acted improperly." Pound, however, has pushed to extend the I.O.C. probe to cover bids for several earlier Olympics, and has suggested several possible reforms that could very well revamp the entire bidding process, reducing I.O.C. members to a largely advisory role and restricting actual decision-making to the I.O.C. executive committee. But even he notes that as early as 1991 Samaranch ignored complaints from the S.L.O.C. of bribe demands, and many other voices insist that only the longtime leader's ouster will prompt a true housecleaning.

The I.O.C. under Samaranch avoids trouble until someone says it is trouble. He doesn't care much, for example, for America's many rules. When U.S. track star Butch Reynolds, despite having failed a doping test, obtained a Supreme Court order allowing him to compete in the 1992 U.S. Olympic trials, Samaranch considered requiring athletes to waive their right to sue the I.O.C. in doping cases. (The idea could never have worked in a democracy, and it was abandoned.) When Samaranch wasn't happy with his own testimony in the 60 Minutes story on Nagano, particularly the part about being proud of past associations with the Fascist regime of Spain's Franco, he sought, in vain, to have his interview retaped. And now this: six investigations, at least three of them criminal ones, digging into the I.O.C.'s long-standing tradition of gift giving.

Certainly Samaranch wishes this never had happened. But whom does he blame?

Were They Going for the Gold?Ex-S.L.O.C. bid committee officials admit awarding $393,000 in scholarships and stipends to 13 people, six of them relatives of I.O.C. members, and soliciting $28,000 in health care for three committeemen. The specific allegations against seven I.O.C. members:

EcuadorAgustin ArroyoI.O.C. member since 1968; also a former private secretary to the President of Ecuador.
 His stepdaughter Nancy briefly worked for the Utah State government and the Salt Lake City Olympic bid committee. According to ex-S.L.O.C. chief Tom Welch, she also received the committee's help while attending a school in Texas.

LibyaB.M. AttarabulsiI.O.C. member since 1977.
 His son Suhel received tuition, plus expenses, at Utah schools, including Brigham Young University.
 "I consider this humanitarian aid," says Mahmoud El Farnawani, a family friend and Salt Lake consultant. He says Suhel was about to be drafted into the Libyan army and his father wanted him out.

CongoJ. Claude GangaPresident, Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa.
 Reportedly accepted $70,000 for children's charities.
 Made $60,000 profit on a Utah land deal arranged by Salt Lake Olympic committees.
 "I have done nothing wrong," he told French radio. "I will not become rich because I voted for Salt Lake City."

NetherlandsAnthonius GeesinkOlympic judo gold medalist in 1964.
 Friends of I.O.C. Member Anton Geesink, a foundation set up to finance his activities, received $5,000.
 The money, he says, funds a "mobile academy" that tours the world to "spread the spirit of the Olympics."
 Dutch Olympic Committee calls the academy "murky."

FinlandPirjo HaeggmanMiddle-distance runner in three Olympics; member of Finland's Olympic Committee.
 According to the New York Times, ex-husband Bjarne worked for the S.L.O.C. bid committee. USA Today says he also held a government job in Toronto when that city was bidding for the 1996 Games.
 She denied wrongdoing, but quit last week.

ChileSergio SantanderI.O.C. member since 1992; president of the Chilean Olympic Committee.
 Thomas Welch, former head of the S.L.O.C., says he gave Santander $10,000 to finance his re-election campaign for mayor of Santiago, the Chilean capital.
 Santander has denied asking for or receiving the money from Welch and the S.L.O.C.

SwazilandDavid S. SibandzeActive in Swazi sports charity circuit; has sought I.O.C. funding for sports-journalism courses in Swaziland; also helped evaluate Rome's bid for the 2004 Olympics.
 His son Sibo, a master's graduate from the University of Utah, got a job with the Salt Lake City economic development office.